The key event for today is the FOMC minutes. The markets have already priced in the rate hike before the year-end. Under these circumstances, the traders will be very interested in the central bank's stance over the coming months. FYI, in the last meeting 12 of 16 FOMC’s members were ready for at least one more rate hike in 2017. The Fed will probably discuss...
USD started its fall today at the end of the Asian session. There were no specific fundamentals behind the pull-back. The exhaustion of the bulls and the plunge of the treasury yields did their modest bit. Besides, the risk-aversion triggered by North Korea that declared its possession of ballistic missile that would be able to reach the US territory soon. EUR...
Today is good opportunity to take advantage of thin liquidity amid some holidays in USA and Canada. GBP finally received a much-needed respite. Last week the pair lost almost 3 figures and tested 1.30 handle. There was a reason to worry - Theresa May’s unstable political position. It seems that today the clouds dissipated for the prime minister, as the jitters on...
USD has been demonstrating its strength recently. Probably, today is going to be its Day of Retribution. Of course, there is a probability of Fed’s rate hike in December, possibility of tax reform and some good macroeconomic data behind the dollar’s upsurge. And, yes, USD got an additional boost after the House of Representatives passed the budget for 2018 on to...
All the majors entered their consolidation ranges today ahead of the NFP report except AUD/USD. In spite of the fact the dollar is not in its best shape, AUD/USD is inching south. The Aussie has been under pressure ever since the Asian session, when Australia published the retail sales report with highly disappointing results. Sales fell 0.6% to 2.1% m/m. Here we...
The dollar finally returned to the Earth and USD-bulls are retreating across the board. USD lost almost all its key drivers. The markets don’t cheer the high chance of a rate hike in December, Trump’s tax reform is not an open and shut case and most of all J. Powell is now the main candidate to replace for Federal Reserve Chair Janet. Why is it not...
A very calm day for the markets. To some extent because of holidays, to some extent because of strikes. The UK provided the markets with some macro- and economic news. GBP/USD posted a session low at 1.3230 in the morning. Some buyers were waiting for the pair at these levels and it moved towards the 1.3300 handle before the soft data on construction PMI was...
Euro got hit again. This time from the results of the referendum on Catalan independence. Yesterday 90% of Catalans voted for independence but the turnout was 42.3%. After the German elections last weekend with the contradictory victory of Angela Merkel's party, another sign of separatism is the last thing EU and euro need at the moment. In the morning EUR/USD...
Who is under bad luck these days? Who showed wild dances today in the morning? Right, it is the Sterling. One may think what could be the problem since Carney's commentaries should have benefitted the GBP growth. The Bank of England governor told raising interest rates might be appropriate if the economy stayed on track. Even though he added that tightening...
Loonie, one of the markets’ favorites, is probably going to change the course. Yesterday, Bank of Canada governor Poloz told that an appropriate path for rates is very difficult to know because of a number of unknowns around inflation outlook. He also assured the Bank would not be mechanical in policy approach since economy may act differently than in previous...
USD is unstoppable this week and especially today. Many strong triggers has been supporting the dollar since the beginning of the week. Yesterday, the head of FOMC Yellen told that “gradual approach to hikes particularly appropriate in light of subdued inflation”. Mrs. Yellen also made a very important hawkish comment: Fed should be wary of moving too...
Yesterday the president of Turkey Tayyip Erdonag warned he might cut off the pipeline that carries oil from Northern Iraq to other parts of the world. It happens sometimes when someone wants to vote for the independence there are always those who don’t. Kurds didn’t lose courage and had their referendum. But oil bears were scared and decided to run. Yesterday...
On the weekend Angela Merkel proved her might having won German elections one more time. It’s hard to say that it feels like a victory, with the worst result since 1949 at 32,9%. Merkel must now find coalition partners. And we already know that Martin Schulz, the head of center-left Social Democratic Party, won’t join Angela’s party and go into opposition. EUR/USD...
D. Trump announced a new round of financial sanctions against North Korea on Thursday. And the «hermit kingdom» wasted little time in responding. The leader of North Korea can’t help but bothering markets. This time the menace is quite serious since we may be talking about hydrogen bomb test in Pacific. It’s obvious that the traders’ attention is now far from FOMC...
Yesterday evening the Fed delivered …nothing specials. . Nothing that should have triggered so much volatility in the markets. Yet traders for some reason saw in the FOMC decision something surprising and sent the dollar up across the board. Probably, it was the dots plot that made so much noise. predictions showed that Yellen and Co. are still ready to raise the...
Today it’s all about waiting again. The key event of the week is the Fed decision on monetary policy. This Central Bank’s decision will be quite a significant one. Of course, it’s almost for sure the Fed will keep its monetary policy on-hold. But, there may be some announcements on the trimming of the massive balance sheet stored up during the last 10...
The Pound is alive and kicking, although monetary officials are not satisfied with its appreciation. Yesterday, the Bank of England governor tripped up Cable by saying that monetary policy may have to "move in order to stand still" due to possibility that global equilibrium interest rates are rising. Despite the possibility of rate hike is looming somewhere in the...
Asian markets are closed due to Respect for the Aged Day celebration. Anyways, USD/JPY managed to show quite an impressive rise ahead of the London opening. Geopolitical risks don’t seem to bother the markets anymore which supported the demand for the riskier USD and pushed USD/JPY up to 111.42 high. The pair is poised to refresh July, 27 highs at 111.70. It looks...